Minnesota School Admins Get Cost Break on SchoolReach

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 07/14/09

The Minnesota Association of School Administrators (MASA) has entered into a partnership agreement with school notification company SchoolReach, making the vendor's SchoolReach system available for a discount to member schools.

"Making this quality service available to our membership means school administrators will have the tools they need to foster a greater collaboration between school and home," said Charles Kyte, executive director of MASA. "We believe this comprehensive parental notification system will exponentially expand schools' ability to provide the kind of information parents have come to need and expect at a moment's notice--any hour or day of the week."

SchoolReach allows administrators to record a brief message; select a specific list of parents, teachers, district staff, or community members to whom the message can be sent; and deliver those messages simultaneously via voice, e-mail, and text messaging.

The SchoolReach system is Web-based, requiring no additional hardware or phone lines for schools to install. It also offers customizable features, giving administrators the ability to automate absentee notices, make multi-language recordings, and launch phone-delivered parent polls and surveys.

SchoolReach also includes reports detailing call data, such as which contacts received the message, who listened to the entire message, and when the message was sent to an answering machine. It's intended for use in distributing information related to attendance tracking, weather and schedule changes, community outreach, rumor control, and emergency notification.